The Day of the Lord | Daily Devotion
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!” 18 Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. 19 The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. 20 And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. 21 There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.”
Revelation 16:17-21 NLT
As John finishes sharing what he sees in the bowl judgments, we receive a greater picture of who God is by way of the details of all of the judgments and the timing of the judgments.
God is love.
In His love, He is holy and thus perfect and just and judges sin according to His word as He cannot counter His perfect character. This makes God trustworthy.
In His love, God is slow to get angry. This physically displays His love, so much so we experience it here on earth – it is not just head knowledge. He is not impulsive, He is strategic – calculated in His cause. He warns and gives an opportunity to repent. With each warning there is hope, an offer for forgiveness and redemption. But each judgment in its increase of severity and intensity signifies the diminishing time for repentance. “You don’t have much time left,” is pretty much what He is saying. Hope for heaven is lessening with continual defiance, and hardened hearts. But in His love, He continues giving mankind the freewill to choose whether to love Him back or to defy Him.
In His love, His acts call people to repentance – to see the errors of their ways, their sin, and to turn to their Savior who forgives.
As we look back at the details in these judgments, we see God to be all powerful, all knowing, and ever present. He shows us in real time that He alone is Sovereign, and we are to submit to Him and His ways and fear Him, recognizing His power. See, Antichrist desires this power, however, he is subjected to what is happening like every other human being, as what is happening is out of his control. Antichrist cannot stop these judgments from taking place, he is at the mercy of them. The very fact that they take place, tell us Jesus Christ is victorious. For the one who is all powerful, has the ability to stop things so that they are not experienced. Whatever God’s will is in Scripture, Satan has no power to stop it – that we can trust in and bank on.
So here, John tells us he sees the seventh angel pour out his bowl judgment into the air – this is the final judgment out of the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments. This is the most severe judgment poured out with the intention of turning defiant eyes toward Christ in repentance. The apostle John doesn’t necessarily share the details of what takes place right here as the angel is pouring the judgment into the air, but what we know is this is the Day of the Lord. This is the culmination of the wrath of God poured out on mankind, providing a way for people to repent of sins and turn to God through Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament prophets spoke of the Day of the Lord for instance Joel said in Joel 2:1-13 NLT, “Sound the alarm in Jerusalem. Raise the battle cry on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the LORD is upon us. It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again. Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes. They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses. Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make – like rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle. Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror. The attackers march like warriors and scale city walls like soldiers. Straight forward they march, never breaking rank. They never jostle each other; each moves in exactly the right position. They break through defenses without missing a step. They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows. The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the LORD is an awesome terrible thing. Who can possibly survive? That is why the LORD says, ‘Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.’ Return to the LORD your God for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.”
As Joel says, “Who can possibly survive?”
God is Creator and this Day is created so that there is annihilation of sinful mankind. The only way to survive, eternally, is to turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior, repenting of sins.
Then a voice from heaven shouts out from the throne in the Temple, which very well could be God the Father, saying, “It is finished!” The same phrase Jesus said, when He fulfilled God the Father’s will in dying on the cross for sinful mankind.
Therefore, when it comes to dealing with sin – the process of dealing with sin – God the Father and Jesus Christ make the very clear announcement of “It is finished” signifying the end of the process. There is a specific purpose in these acts and they are completed.
This is an example of the needed announcement of completion and closure. His wrath has been poured out witnessed in the 7 seal judgments, 7 trumpet judgments, and the 7 bowl judgments.
Perfect judgment.
The apostle John then says, thunder crashed and lightening flashed and a great earthquake took place– the worst earthquake earth will have ever experienced since people were placed on earth. Which is a fun fact, implying a lot of details took place prior to mankind being placed on earth on the 6th day of creation. We need to remember that our days are not God’s days, for to God a day is a thousand and a thousand a day. And when it comes to the earth’s historic timeline, there are eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages and they are defined by major geological and paleontological events. Thus, the apostle John tells us here that during the first 5 days of creation there were major earthquakes. He just fits it in opening eyes to the earth’s history, and God’s power over the earth with mankind living on it. This severe earthquake is punishment and it split the great city of Babylon into three sections and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. And as the apostle John says, “So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.”
The people still refused to repent, but recognized the power of God over their experience – revealing their heart, mind, and soul to be completely aligned with Satan who himself knows the power of God but refuses to bow to Him, willingly.
Will you pray with me?
Abba, thank You for Your love displayed. We don’t simply know about your love, we experience it tangibly. We ask Lord for You to draw many to repentance today, so that they do not experience Your divine wrath and increased consequences due to sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.